David Phillips - Profile
David Phillips is Professor of Environmental Carcinogenesis at The Institute of Cancer Research. His research interests are centred on mechanistic investigations into environmental causes of cancer and gene-environment interactions, and monitoring human exposure to carcinogens.
He is currently chair of the Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (COC) and a member of its sister Committee on Mutagenicity (COM). He is also a member of the Food Standards Agency General Advisory Committee on Science (GACS).
He is Editor-in-Chief of the scientific journal Mutagenesis, and he has chaired working groups evaluating carcinogenic risks to humans for the US National Toxicology Program (NTP), and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
After obtaining his first degree in Chemistry at the University of Oxford, Professor Phillips gained his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of London before going on to postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Wisconsin and Stanford University, USA.
Professor Phillips says the ICR provides him with an ideal environment in which to carry out research. "Cancer research is by its very nature interdisciplinary, and the ICR allows me to interact with colleagues with different expertise."
A combination of chance and curiosity led him to specialise in his chosen field. "I was fortunate in finding a PhD research project in the interesting (to me) field of how carcinogenic chemicals exert their effects," he says. "There are still enough unanswered questions in this general area to get me out of bed in the morning."
"The ultimate solution to the cancer problem is the prevention of the disease occurring in the first place. There are many things that we do not yet understand about the causes of cancer, why it affects some people and not others, and how to avoid some of its many forms. I still aspire to find answers to some of the many questions that still remain about what causes cancer, and how."
He lists carpentry, ornithology, photography, blues music, running, cycling and "generally trying to defy the ageing process" as hobbies.
